Just gave a quick listen to "This Bird Has Flown" the 40th anniversary Rubber Soul tribute album. Most of the versions I have no use for -- they're too true to the originals to be interesting
I bought the tracks I wanted off iTunes after hearing the Fiery Furnaces track on Jon's show last week. I really like Low's "Nowhere Man," but the rest - yeah - too traditional.
I am just home from seeing the New Pornographers at the Metro. Never ever have I seen a band twice and had such totally different experiences. When I saw them on the Electric Version tour they were boring and played a super short set and Neko Case whined the whole time. Tonight, they were just incredible. A.C. Newman was funny and talkative (I kind of love him). Destroyer opened (not bad, made me want to buy a CD because I sense they could really grow on me) and Dan Bejar (is that right? too lazy to double check) came out and did just about every song he's written with them. "Testament to Youth in Verse" was especially good. They did two encores of three songs each including an Electric Version "superset" as they called it for the first encore. They took a zillion requests and played just about every song they knew, I think. I only bought tickets because nice people I had just met wanted to go - otherwise I would have skipped it. For once, trying to be social and make friends has paid off!
Everything they did from
Twin Cinema
really cemented that it's a very good album. Yay for Pornographers!
Edited to fix stuff.
Hey wise folk: Mekons are now on eMusic! What do I really, really need? Have been wanting to check them out for a while, where do I start?
Others are far far wiser than I on all things Mekon, erin, but as a newbie to them myself, I recommend
Fear and Whiskey
it's a first-time-listen, love-the-whole-thing, oh-this-is-why-everyone-talks-about-them kind of album.
But like I said, others here know better than I.
Speaking of emusic - this morning I downloaded this new Danny Barnes album because it showed up as an editor's pick for both bluegrass and indie pop and I was intrigued. Darn good. He's a banjo player and fine lyricist.
Allmusic sez:
A graduate of the University of Texas with a degree in audio engineering, Barnes dedicated himself to traditional bluegrass playing, picking up the banjo, and seeing where the instrument would lead him. In Barnes' case, the banjo led him to the Bad Livers
Hey! I know the Bad Livers...
The album is called
Get Myself Together
and their verdict is
you've got a bona fide down-home classic, not to mention a frontrunner for the Americana album of 2005.
It is very good on first listen.
Mekons are now on eMusic! What do I really, really need?
Corwood & Misha are the Mekons fanatics, and Jon & David far more knowledgeable than I am about whichever genre into which they're likely to be lumped, but I think the consensus pick is Fear and Whiskey. Corwood lists Original Sin and Mekons Rock n' Roll on his desert island discs lists (I don't think he'd care if I linked but I'll let him do it). The latter isn't on emusic, and the former is Fear and Whiskey plus some tracks from subsequent EPs. Christgau agrees on the selections, although I can't say whether their reasons are the same.
There's a lot of bad Mekons on there -- avoid Pussy, King of the Pirates and United.
I prefer
The Edge of the World
to
Fear & Whiskey,
just because I love Sally, but i'd give a sample-listen to each and see what you think. After that, I'd go for I [heart] Mekons
and
So Good It Hurts,
from the eMusic choices. And, yes, find
Rock & Roll.
Try "Hard to Be Human Again" from
Fear
and "Oblivion" from
Edge
if you want to do a one-song sample set.
avoid Pussy
But my wife really wants kids. "Sorry, dear, we'll have to adopt. Blame Misha."
Your wife capitalizes hers? No wonder you proposed.
Hey wise folk: Mekons are now on eMusic! What do I really, really need? Have been wanting to check them out for a while, where do I start?
Dude, they got more reviews in Lost in The Grooves than anybody excepting the Beach Boys. Look 'em up, Lexi.
Aside from the ones already mentioned, I am personally very fond of
The Mekons Rock and Roll
(which has the great "Memphis Egypt" on it) and also deeply love
So Good It Hurts
with my favorite "Ghosts of American Astronauts" and the excellent "(Sometimes I Feel Like) Fletcher Christian." (AMG wrongly gives this spanking great and very listenable album a middling review. I think it's one of their most listenable, where they perfected their distinctive mix of country music and punk lashed with carribean rhythms).
